/CAMPS

Each year the Tucson, Arizona, Community selects and recognizes 50 nurses for their efforts and contributions to patient care, as well as the local community. This year, one of our DCI Desert Dialysis nurses, Will Wilkinson, RN, was selected as one of the 50 honorees. On Saturday, May 7, he received his award.

“Will is an avid cheerleader for DCI-Desert Dialysis. He shares our message ‘the care of the patient is the reason for our existence’ at every opportunity in the Tucson community,” said Lee Cauble, nurse manager of DCI Desert Dialysis.

The Tucson Nurses Week Foundation seeks to share the accomplishments of the local nurses who are responding daily to the healthcare needs of the Tucson community. Larry Brauer, DCI-Desert Dialysis administrator, said that Will was instrumental in developing a collaborative relationship with the Southern Arizona Emergency Preparedness Coalition, which better prepared DCI-Desert Dialysis and their patients in the event of a community-wide emergency. In addition, he helped develop the Purpose Project in their community, which provided three weeks of health education classes at Frances Owen Holaway Elementary School, and he helped connect St. Andrews parish nurses as local community partners.

“Will has served DCI and the Tucson Community in many different areas related to safety, health, and wellness,” said Brauer. “We are extremely honored to have Will as part of the DCI-Desert Dialysis Patient Care Team and congratulate him on being selected as one of Tucson’s Finest Nurses.”

###

Founded in 1971, Dialysis Clinic, Inc. (DCI) is the nation’s largest non-profit dialysis provider with over 230 outpatient dialysis clinics in 28 states. Headquartered in Nashville, Tennessee, DCI employs over 5,000 people serving approximately 15,000 dialysis patients. DCI’s services include in-center hemodialysis, in-center self-care hemodialysis, home hemodialysis, Continuous Ambulatory Peritoneal Dialysis (CAPD), and Continuous Cycling Peritoneal Dialysis (CCPD). Acute dialysis facilities are located within hospitals around the US. The United States Renal Data System has found DCI to have the lowest patient mortality and hospitalization rates among the national dialysis providers for the last 13 years. DCI operates under the mission “We are a non-profit service organization. The care of the patient is our reason for existence.” For more information on the USRDS information, visit www.usrds.org.